


a nudge in the right direction

by sunlit_tea_leaves



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Love Wins, Nonbinary Benrey (Half-Life), Team as Family, Temporary Character Death, also in this fic coomer's using he/they prounouns!!, bad ending what bad ending i can't hear you, benrey is also using he/they pronouns, fun fact i originally was trying to keep it gen and platonic but the gay was too powerful, sldfkjsd i couldn't remember the exact dialogue so it's gonna be a bit off, what do you MEAN the stream didn't end this way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24485701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlit_tea_leaves/pseuds/sunlit_tea_leaves
Summary: Breaking into the White House may have not been the Science Team's smartest idea-but it's definitely not their last one.
Relationships: Benrey & Gordon Freeman, Benrey & Tommy Coolatta, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Dr. Coomer & Gordon Freeman, Everyone & Everyone, Gordon Freeman & Everyone, Tommy Coolatta & Sunkist, Tommy Coolatta/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 20
Kudos: 128





	a nudge in the right direction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILER WARNING! this fic spoils the end of the hlvrai ACAB stream, so uh yeah

He's running out of time. Gordon stuffed the papers into his bag frantically, pausing every so often to squeeze off a few shots. He's running out of ammo, and the rest of his team is on the ground badly hurt.

"Hold on guys!" He shouted, eyes darting back and forth from his team's pained faces to the yellow mustard colored cloud of gas surrounding them to the army of cops and soldiers trying their absolute best to kill them all. "Just fucking-hold on!"

“We’re trying Gordon, but please hurry! I can’t feel my extremities anymore due to blood loss, and it’s getting rather hard to hold up my gun!” Coomer shouted back, their words slurring a little. Gordon popped out from behind some cover and then ducked back swearing as a bullet grazed his face with a sharp sting.

"Okay, _fuck this_ -" He reloaded his guns one last time and ran over quickly, cursing loudly as he leapt over dead and dying pigs."Okay I'm coming! I'm here! Fuck!!" 

"Oh whoa.... Sonic's so nice...!" Tommy said dreamily from inside the walls somewhere like the rat he was. "And the...the light he's taking me to is so _pretty_....!"

"Stay away from the light Tommy, just-just hold on okay?!" Gordon yelled frantically. "Okay Gordon-start with Bubby, then revive the rest-except for Benrey, screw them."

"what the fuck bro....not cool...." The ex security guard said faintly, sounding genuinely hurt. Gordon rolled his eyes as he started to revive Bubby. He coughed. The gas hurt to breathe, so he had to hurry and get the rest of his team out before they got hurt by it anymore.

"Okay, fine, I'll help you too-"

A cannister, black and beeping, rolled next to them. Gordon didn't have time to kick it away before it exploded with a sharp bang. 

His ears rang. Gordon propped himself up on shaky arms. He couldn't feel his legs.

"F-fuck, I don't-I don't think we're going to make it, guys..." He fumbled for his gun with nerveless fingers and shot a cop that was too close for comfort.

"Ugh...and we were so close!" Bubby weakly hit the floor in frustration. 

"Well, look at the bright side gentlemen!" Coomer said cheerfully. "We successfully saved Tommy!"

"...we did...?" Benrey asked slowly. Gordon had to agree with them. How had they saved Tommy? They were all dying, and he was _still_ trapped in the asbestos filled walls....

Tommy suddenly made an excited noise, although it was hard to hear him because of how fucked up Gordon's hearing was. 

"Dad?!" 

Against his will, his eyes started to droop. He was so tired, and everything hurt. Gordon closed his eyes...

...And opened them with a groan, only to see Tommy's relieved face up close and personal.

"Gordon!" He cried happily. Gordon screamed and flailed off of something soft onto something hard. Above from where his face was now smushed into the floor, Tommy made a wordless sound of apology, and helped him get back up onto the soft thing all while muttering anxiously underneath his breath.

"S-sorry about that!" Tommy stuttered, backing away after helping Gordon up onto the soft thing. Now that he wasn't so panicked, Gordon saw that the soft thing was actually an old red couch, with golden dog hair sprinkled liberally all over it. Wrapped around his legs was a fuzzy blanket decorated with all the classic symbols of science, such as little atom signs and the a few rockets and potion bottles. Tommy was still talking Gordon abruptly realized, so he tuned back in.

"I-I just was very-really worried since you were taking so long to wake up, and-umm yeah." Tommy was wringing the fuzzy blanket with his hands nervously as he talked. "Sorry that I scared you...I got excited..."

At that last bit he trailed off, still wringing the blanket with his hands.

Gordon reached out and gently cupped Tommy's face with his hand. He smiled reassuringly.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here now." Gordon said softly. Tommy stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, then smiled back and leaned into the touch.

"Okay," Tommy said just as quietly. Was it Gordon's imagination, or was he blushing...? Hm. It was probably the remnants of the Asbestos poisoning Tommy had gotten in the walls. Probably. He leaned closer...

"Ah! Hello Gordon!" Coomer boomed cheerfully, and suddenly the quiet moment was broken. They both startled badly, and Gordon couldn't help but feel mildly embarrassed.

"C-" His voice cracked. Gordon cleared his throat and tried again. "Dr. Coomer. Hi."

"Hello Gordon!" They repeated. Coomer then grinned, a mischievous glint in their eyes. "It's good that your color is back to normal. Your epidermis is quite red, moreso than usual!"

"M-my what?" He stuttered. At those fateful words, their grin widened until they reminded Gordon of Cheshire Cat.

"The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that make up the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypo-" 

"Stop!" Gordon cried desperately. "Dr. Coomer, buddy, I love you but please do not. Just. Do not."

Amazingly, he actually listened and stopped. Coomer then seemed to lose an internal battle and burst out laughing.

"Alright Gordon, you win this time! Enjoy your morning, gays!" They left, still cackling. There was silence for a moment as Gordon tried to figure out what was happening.

"Wait," He said finally. "Did Coomer say gays? ...Didn't he mean guys...?" Tommy, his face still red, slowly shook his head.

"No, that's-exactly what they meant." He stammered. 

"Oh." There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Gordon finally asked the important question. "Tommy....I....what happened? Where are we...?"

Tommy perked up at that, looking thankful for the subject change. "Oh this, this is my dad's house!" He said brightly. 

"Your dad's house...? Okay so...how did we get here? I....I remember...."

Gordon remembered _dying,_ the taste of coppery blood in his mouth and lead in his gut. He doesn't remember Tommy's dad swooping in at the last second and saving the day.

Tommy, being the multilingual he was, understood what he wasn't saying out loud.

"You..." He grimaced. "You and everyone else were in-in _bad_ shape back there. Badder than anyone has ever been in the history of, of the whole _world_ has ever been. B-but my dad, he's very good at, uhm, _bending_ things?" Tommy waved his hands in the air with frustration then started tapping his leg. "Urgh, that's not the right word-but do you get it?"

"...Sort of?" Someone snorted at that, familiar and low from behind him. Gordon groaned and turned to see Benrey smirking at him.

"you don't get it, do you." They said, their voice sounding oddly soft. "damn bro. top ten epic gaymer fails."

"If you're not going to explain, will you shut up?" Gordon grumbled half heartedly. He hated to admit it, but he was relieved to see them again, even though they were 'sitting' on a lamp, with their feet clipping slightly through the floor.

"you wish." Benrey grinned, then got up off of the lamp and ambled over to the couch where Gordon was. "but look dude, i'll explain. so you know how tommy's dad can uhhh...shit, can uh do weird stuff with time, right? well, he did that with us kinda." 

"Y-yeah!" Tommy piped up. "He calls them, uh..."

"Nudgess. I call them nudgesss." Tommy's dad stepped into the room, his suit looking as impeccably sharp as ever. Gordon wondered distantly if he used some sort of weird scientific alien bullshit to keep it looking like that. Tommy's dad smiled at him, and although it definitely wasn't very nice to look at, Gordon knew it was genuinely friendly.

"It's good to ssee that you're finally awake Mr. Freeman, I wass beginning to worry." He said slowly. Tommy's dad gestured grandiosely to the door, and beside Gordon Tommy stifled a little laugh. "Won't you join uss for breakfassst? I made pancakess."

"I-" Gordon hesitated, then raised his hands to grasp something around his head only he could feel. "I can't-"

"It'ss alright if you...can't eat, but it would be nice to sstill enjoy your company." Tommy's dad said earnestly. Gordon hesitated again, then slowly lowered his hands. 

"I-you know what...? You're right, that would be nice." He smiled back, then got up a little unsteadily. "Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know, originally i was going to have this be a one shot but then, as i was finishing up this first chapter at 2 fucking 40 in the morning i realized that i don't have the energy to finish this right now!! so yeah expect the next chappie tomorrow-wait, in several hours! :'>


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